


Head Boy

by sra_danvers



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-07-27
Packaged: 2018-04-11 12:26:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4435454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sra_danvers/pseuds/sra_danvers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry must relate to Slytherins for the sake of Inter-House Unity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Head Boy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Alisanne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alisanne/gifts).



> Thanks to [Suitesamba](http://archiveofourown.org/users/suitesamba/pseuds/suitesamba) for the indispensable Beta work!

Harry walked briskly through the corridors of the Hogwarts Express, his head facing the windows. He didn’t want anybody recognising and congratulating him, one more time.

Harry’s life had been upside down since he’d defeated Voldemort in the Final Battle. He had to go into the Muggle world if he wanted to be unrecognised, as he couldn’t do so in the Wizarding world, where he was lavished with attention and greeted by people he didn’t even know.

That was one of the reasons Harry had declined joining the Auror training without taking his N.E.W.T.s. Harry deserved the position - he and everybody who had fought in the Battle of Hogwarts - but he preferred to wait until things cooled down and to take his N.E.W.T.s so nobody could throw it back in his face later. Because not everyone loved him - there were plenty of envious people who continued to attack him as they always had and always would, even though they had no idea what it had cost him to be a _hero_.

To finish ruining his last year, the only peaceful one he could have hoped for at Hogwarts, Minerva had insisted he be Head Boy. Yes, given that they’d lived together at the battle and later during the castle’s rehabilitation, the new Headmistress asked Harry to call her by her given name.

But when Harry tried to refuse the Head Boy position, Minerva tried to talk him into it, appealing to his compassion. She said that Harry deserved it, but so did the rest of the students, as he was an example for every one of them, those that supported him and those that didn’t.

Minerva trusted him. She knew the young boy didn’t have any interest in abusing his power. What’s more, he was the best one to diffuse the tension, and that tension was a matter that worried the Headmistress.

So now, Harry was fleeing after fulfilling his first duties as Head Boy. This was not the final year he’d hoped for.

Harry entered the last compartment where his friends were gathered. Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville and Ginny startled when they heard the door. They were not yet accustomed to peacetime.

“Is everything all right?” Ron asked, looking at him with his serious face.

Harry nodded, surprised that Ron had been the one to ask. Lately, Hermione usually did the talking for both of them.

Harry had worried about how Ron would react to him being named Head Boy. He didn’t want to rekindle the jealousy they’d had in fourth year. But Ron was not that Ron anymore; tall, happy and spirited. Now Ron walked with his shoulders hunched and rarely smiled. Harry didn’t know the pain of losing a brother, but just imagining what it would have felt like to lose Ron gave him some idea. It was still hard to think about Remus, Tonks…

Ron was so depressed that he had almost not gone back to Hogwarts this year. He had planned to stay with George and help him with the joke shop. Hermione finally convinced him, reminding him that with his N.E.W.T.s he could eventually help George more. Truthfully, his girlfriend didn’t want to leave him alone, fearing he would become even more deeply depressed.

Hermione’s life wasn’t much easier, either. Kingsley had personally accompanied her to Australia, to bring back her parents.

Sadly the memory charms weren’t easy to undo, and even though Hermione was smart, she was not an experienced Auror. The Grangers ended up in St. Mungo’s, in a special facility where they treated Muggles affected by magical spells.

It was a nice clinic in a London suburb, and it seemed more a hotel than a hospital. As parents of one of the war heroes, they were treated excellently, but that didn’t make things easier when Hermione went to visit them. Her parents remembered her for only short periods, and even if they seemed healthy, they sometimes shouted at her for sending them away, or hugged her because they were so proud of how courageous she had been, or… didn’t know her at all.

No, life after the war was not being kind to any of them.

Unless you were Neville Longbottom. Harry smiled while staring across at his friend sitting in front of them. Neville looked stronger, more sure of himself. He had obviously grown up nicely, but it wasn’t just that. It was his posture, his attitude that people noticed. Harry smiled widely when he saw Neville’s arm around the waist of the blonde sitting at his side. Luna. Harry didn’t know how the girl had coped with her kidnapping, because he never had known what was in the girl’s special mind.

In that moment, Ginny stood up from Neville’s other side and went to sit between Harry and Hermione. Harry noticed that she had had been sitting closely beside Neville. He didn’t know exactly what was going on with the three of them, to tell the truth. They had suffered so much under the Carrows, the most persecuted of all the students last year. That seemed to have createed a three-way relationship whose significance Harry didn’t know, and really, didn’t actually want to know. What mattered was that they were happy.

Ginny had confronted Harry at the Burrow the day after the battle. They shouted, argued and then they kissed and cried until they’d fallen asleep together.

Ron still didn’t understand why his sister was not _with_ his best friend, as they were always together, like at this very moment on the train.

Harry thought that Ginny felt guilty for having someone when Harry was still alone. Furthermore, Harry confessed his true sexual preferences that day at the Burrow, and Ginny made it her mission know find out which boys were gay at Hogwarts and introduce them to Harry, even though Harry had told her that he wanted to be alone, at least for the time being.

By the way Neville looked at him, Harry guessed that Ginny had told him. Harry didn’t mind because it took away guilty look from Neville’s eyes, but Harry feared that Luna knew, too. The Ravenclaw girl was apt to post an announcement in the common room, or worse, in The Quibbler.

“Did you see any Slytherins?” Ginny asked, taking his arm.

Harry looked at Ron and Hermione. The three had talked about those on the losing side of the war with Minerva. Ron really had changed – he was as unconcerned about Slytherins as he was the rest of the world around him. Hermione also just wanted to forget, so she stared at Harry with interest.

“No, I didn’t see any,” Harry answered. He knew that Neville, Luna and Ginny weren’t over their hatred of that house. And he knew they had reason.

“Nott’s come back, the bastard,” Neville said remembering the previous horrible year. “Goyle and Malfoy, too. Even Parkinson! After trying to hand you over…”

Luna took Neville’s hand and he calmed down. The girl who exasperated everybody knew exactly how to calm her boyfriend the rare times he became exasperated himself.

“You know I don’t mind – I’m not after revenge,” Harry said one more time.

“Goyle and Malfoy are here because they’re being forced,” Hermione said. “Kingsley told me that instead of being sent to Azkaban, the younger ones are being required to continue their studies. This puts them under Ministry control and keeps them away from their parents. Many of their parents are in Azkaban, like Goyle and Nott’s fathers. Some were only following their parent’s orders, Neville. Like Malfoy. You said yourself that he wasn’t as cruel as Crabbe.”

“Last year the ferret had his own problems,” Ginny said, going back to sit beside Neville. “And don’t forget, Harry wasn’t there. We all know that without Harry around, Malfoy loses all interest in we insignificant Gryffindors.” Ginny was just trying to change the subject, but when Harry blushed she stared at him, thoughtfully.

“Let’s hope the Slytherins don’t want revenge, either, because they can be really cruel when they want. They might be following their parents’ orders, but thanks to those parents, Harry and I never got to know ours.”

Nobody said a word after Neville’s speech. The boy got silence and took the hands of both girls at his sides. Ron fell asleep on Hermione’s shoulder while she was reading.

Harry thought that, even though the war was over and he’d done what he was meant to do, things were not back to normal, not by far. Their final trip on the Hogwarts Express had become melancholic and dark, like everything had seemed since Dumbledore’s death.

Harry was left to wonder what exactly had happened the previous year at Hogwarts for his nice and compassionate friend to be reacting this way.

*************************

Minerva was waiting for him with a hot cup of tea when Harry arrived at her office.

The season run fast and Christmas was coming soon. These moments with the Headmistress were what Harry had most enjoyed since the term had begun.

Harry had lived too much, had suffered too much. He felt light years away from the innocent children who looked at him with wonder in their eyes. And he didn’t mean only the firsts years.

Hermione and Ron, who knew him best, had each other. Neville was always with Ginny, Luna, or both. As for everyone else… Harry didn’t trust anybody.

It might seem odd, but he felt closer to some Slytherins than to the younger members of his own House. But Malfoy, Parkinson and Goyle had their own problems. As the Headmistress had feared, people wanted to take revenge on them since they couldn’t get to their parents. In they were lucky, the children of the Death Eaters were ignored, even in their own House. Nobody wanted to be associated with such terrible and recent events. If they weren’t lucky, they ended up in the Hospital wing.

“This can’t go on like this, Harry. Last year I had to watch helplessly while my students were harmed by their classmates, even by others professors. May a Troll eat my hat if I allow it to keep happening this year. You have to help me, dear.”

“You know that I do what I can, Minerva. I’ve even talked personally to everyone in the common room. None of the last attacks had been from our House, I’m sure.

“I know, I know. For once it seems that the Hufflepuffs are being more aggressive – and that is so unusual of them. I have talked with Pomona, but she is on the defensive. You don’t know how brutal they were with that House, Harry…

Harry didn’t know from personal experience, but he could imagine from all he had heard. In fact, he was getting sick of all the retelling. He had had his own work the previous year!

“Tell me, Minerva, what more can I do?” Harry asked sincerely, knowing that the woman had something in mind already. He was finally getting to know her, even though he’d loved her a long time. She was like the mother he’d ever known, but she treated him as an adult, not like a child as Molly still did.

“Albus thinks…” Harry tensed when he heard the name of his mentor. He hadn’t made peace with the idea of the headmaster’s sacrifice. The old wizard seemed to know this, as he wasn’t usually in his portrait when Harry visited Minerva. “…that you should bring a Slytherin to the Yule Ball. If everyone sees you with someone from that House, being who you are…

“I don’t want to bring… a Slytherin to the Ball,” Harry said with horror. Minerva knew Harry’s preferences – he’d confessed them to her the night she’d served him his first Firewhisky. 

Harry could only think of one person, if she wanted him to choose a Slytherin. And that wouldn’t happen in a hundred years, not if he wanted to avoid the biggest humiliation he’d felt since trying to cheer Hermione up by dancing with her in the tent.

“Dear, you can bring whomever you want. Who would turn you down?” she asked with intention. She also knew Harry well and she suspected who was in Harry’s mind just then. “Anyway, the point is that people see you interacting with someone from Slytherin. If I recall correctly, some years ago you brought Lovegood… as a friend.”

“I can do it. Yes, I can do it. All right, I’ll do it. But if something goes wrong, you can forget about that Scottish Firewhisky I’ve bought for Christmas.”

*************************

_What could go wrong?_ Harry wondered once more time as he walked across the Library towards the table where Draco Malfoy was sitting.

Harry had decided that if he had to do it for the greater good, at least he was going to grab the only chance he’d have of going with the one he really wanted.

More nervous now than the time he’d asked Cho, he stopped in front of the Slytherin and said straight out: “Do you want to go to Professor Slughorn’s party? With me?”

Draco Malfoy almost dropped the quill he was holding. He did, in fact, knock over the inkwell and stain the ten inches he’d written about the properties of Flobberworm Mucus.

“What the hell did you say, Potter?” Draco asked, the first words he’d said to the Gryffindor that year.

Seeing that everybody was looking at them, Harry sat down in front of the Slytherin without asking permission.

“As friends. Together. To the party. You see, Minerva thinks that if people see me with you…”

“…they’d think we’ve gone mad. And since when are you on a first-name basis with the Headmistress, Potter?” Draco, feeling completely humiliated, couldn’t hold back. For a moment he’d thought that Potter had asked him because… but no, it seemed that Potter was just being Saint Potter yet again.

“As you were last year, if I hear correctly.”

Harry was as angry with Draco as Draco was with him. All that he had been avoiding the entire year had gone horribly wrong with just one conversation with the Slytherin. And he had hoped…

“Look, forget it. You’re right, it would be crazy.”

Harry stood up and left the Library so fast that even Madame Pince called him out. The rest of the students murmured while Draco stared at his essay without writing another word. Damn, why couldn’t he have just shut up and accepted Potter’s invitation? It would have been nice to be together one night, to imagine that Potter had asked him because he couldn’t stop thinking about that terrible flight that had connected them in some way.

At least, that was what he wanted to believe…

*************************

“Blaise went to that stupid party,” Draco said when he found Pansy in his room. She was wearing a sheer, pale pink dress. “I didn’t know he invited you.”

“Me? The number one pariah in all the school? No, he’s bringing a sixth-year  
Gryffindor. She’s as tall as him and young enough to not mind going with a Slytherin.”

“Then who invited you?” Draco asked, a vile taste rising in his mouth.

His friend’s face showed how guilty she felt - that’s why she hadn’t told him earlier that she was going to go to that stupid Club. Even though he was the Head of Slytherin, Slughorn had only invited Blaise from his own House. And no one from the other Houses would bring the girl who had wanted to hand Potter over. Nobody except…

“Are you going with Potter? I can’t believe it! You are going with him! After all I told you!”

“Draco… Draco, listen to me, please. You have no idea what I’m going through this year. Yes, I know you’re a target too, but you’re not the one who wanted to hand their hero over to the Dark Lord.”

“No, of course. I only tried to burn him alive.”

“You know that wasn’t your fault. Besides, he hasn’t said a word about that. Quite the opposite - he always tries to clean your name. I know you hate him for that, but I’m not so lucky. He offered to bring me to the party because he wants some respect for me, and I’m taking him up on his offer, Draco.”

“He’s doing it because he wants to be perfect Saint Potter.”

“I don’t care about his reasons! Fuck, if he wanted, I’d give him a blowjob after the party. The thing is that he’s doing me a favour and I... Draco?”

“Go away! Go to that dammed party!”

“Why are you so freaked out? You turned him down! Well, I’m not going to be so foolish, no sir. Stay here feeling sorry for yourself and insulting Potter. I’m not going to miss an opportunity to redeem myself. And if I happen to get laid by the Boy Who Lived… lucky me!”

*************************

When Pansy came back from the party, she snuck into the boys’ room. Goyle was snoring and Blaise wasn’t back yet. She found Draco lying on his bed in the same clothes he was wearing when she’d left. She lay down beside him, both looking up at the green bed curtains, as they had so many times before.

“So, how big is the Saviour of the Wizarding World’s cock?” Draco asked bitterly.

“That’s the reason,” Pansy said enigmatically. “That’s why you were so angry. Because you want to see for yourself how big his dick is,” she said naughtily, after thinking about that all night.

Draco softly punched her, and Pansy bit his hand. Then she put her head over his chest, happy because he hadn’t reacted too badly. With her friend, anything that had to do with Potter was a hard and arduous path. And she was finally beginning to understand why.

“He was a gentleman. He held my arm and took me through the most crowded corridors. We talked about you.”

“You did?”

“Yes. He told me that he appreciates you so much and…”

“Come on, Pans, I know you. He must have insulted me for turning him down.”

“In fact, he didn’t want to talk about you. I tried twice and finally he told me he just didn’t want to talk about you. I’m sorry, Drake.”

“Don’t worry, I knew he hated me. I should have gone with him tonight…”

“Well… you could go with him at Christmas. For the Yule Ball. If you stay close to me.”

“He invited you to the Ball? Oh, Pansy! Please tell me you don’t like him! We promised not to hit on each other’s boyfriends - after what happened fourth year with the Durmstrangs.”

“Of course I like him! But don’t worry, I’m not a bitch. You’re really crushed about this, aren’t you?” Draco nodded and curled up in his own bed, letting Pansy pet him like a cat. “Aw, those big strong wizards on brooms that saved you from the Fiendfyre! You’ll see, at the Ball I can…”

“I don’t want to go. I will not go. If he isn’t with you he’ll end up with some other girl. I don’t want to see him with another girl, Pans, especially with that Weaselette.”

“Draco, do you have anything to drink? Oh, you are so evil. Come on, get that bottle that your father sent to celebrate his release and I’ll tell you who the Weaselette was with at the party.”

*************************

“Hey, boys!”

Pansy approached the Slytherin table, hanging onto Harry Potter’s arm. He was blushing to his roots but he didn’t let go of her, which made her euphoric. It had been so long since she’d had all eyes on her, at least in a positive way. Everybody in the Great Hall envied her in one way or another and she was exploiting it.

At the table, Draco sat beside Goyle and Nott. Zabini was sitting at the Gryffindor table with his own young partner.

“Hi Pansy,” Draco answered. “Potter,” he added, meeting Harry’s eyes – those beautiful green eyes that were almost always half-closed when looking at him. 

“Malfoy. Goyle, Nott.”

The Slytherin froze when the hero named every one of them. When he also sat down at the table, both eighth-year boys stood up and left, Goyle without an apology. Harry looked at the main table and shrugged his shoulders at Minerva, who was looking at him with a peculiar smile.

Draco tensed at that, but his friend hit his back and distracted him from his dark thoughts.

“Are you having a good time, Draco?” she asked, putting her hand on Harry’s shoulders. “Harry was getting bored with the lions and I said to myself: Maybe we snakes could entertain him more,” she said suggestively, winking at Draco from behind the hero’s back.

“Harry?” Draco couldn’t help but repeat.

Harry moved his head and tried to get up, but the girl kept hold of his hand and he remained seated.

“Draco, be a gentleman. You can talk about a lot of different things. Try to be kind, it’s not hard.

“Thanks for inviting me to Slughorn’s party,” said the Slytherin, glaring at his friend. “I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.

“No, don’t apologize. I shouldn’t have asked you.”

“Yes, you should! It’s just that…”

“Wait a moment,” Pansy interrupted, placing herself between them. “I’m going to leave you here. The thing is that Ginny promised me she’d introduce me to Cormac McLaggen, that fit Gryffindor. You don’t mind, do you, Harry? Considering that according to Ginny, you also prefer boys...”

Draco opened his eyes as wide as Bludgers. Harry gaped too, but then he closed his eyes before glaring at Pansy and then at a certain meddling Gryffindor who was going to pay for her indiscretion.

“Bye, bye, then!” she called as if she hadn’t just dropped such a bombshell. She kissed both boys before heading over to the Gryffindor table.

Seven minutes and fifty-three seconds went by before either of them said a word.

“I seem to recall that the Head Boy has a private room, right, Potter?” Draco said in an unmistakably seductive tone of voice, when he gathered the courage.

Harry smiled without looking up from the floor, his face all red. Not even in his wildest dreams had he imagined ending the night with Malfoy, much less ending it alone together in his private room. Suddenly, he very much appreciated that luxury, even though the rest of the year he’d barely enjoyed it, passing his time in the Gryffindor common room with his friends.

But if Malfoy was offering, he wasn’t going to be the one to refuse. Harry didn’t say a word, fearing anything he said would be misunderstood by the Slytherin, as they had so much history between them.

Harry stood up, still smiling, and left the Great Hall, hoping Malfoy was following him because he didn’t dare look behind him and see the scandalized looks of some of his friends, or even Minerva’s always sharp eyes.

Harry didn’t stop until he arrived at the tower, just before the Fat Lady’s portrait. The entire way, Harry heard light footsteps behind him, and with every one of them, he grew more and more nervous, thinking about what he was going to do when they arrived in his room. He could pin Draco against the door and make out with the attractive blonde, who surely was amenable after his tempting proposition. Or he could warm things up, offering Malfoy a taste of the liquor he’d bought for Minerva. His friend wouldn’t mind that the bottle wasn’t full if he told her that her gift had served to bring the Houses… closer. Hopefully tomorrow there would be something more tangible to explain to her.

When they were in front of the portrait of a big black dog, Harry whispered the password, but not because he didn’t trust the Slytherin. In that moment, he regretted ever having chosen Fiendfyre as a password. Every time he said it, he felt something warm inside that had nothing to do with the spell but instead with two arms holding tightly to his waist. Who would ever have thought that one day he would stand in front of his door with the very person who had inspired the password?

Draco, at his back, smiled, pleased. Of course he’d heard the password, no matter that Harry had tried to hide it. The fact that Harry had tried to prevent him from hearing it made why he had chosen that password all the more evident. And Pansy said that Potter liked boys, so it opened a myriad of possibilities for that night. Maybe Potter was gay and had accepted his proposition to get laid, but it could also be that Harry Potter felt something special for him.

Draco decided to give it his all, take what Potter wanted to give him, and treasure that gift for the rest of his life. 

So when Harry offered him a drink and told him that he’d bought the Firewhisky for the Headmistress for Christmas, Draco approached him and took his hand.

“I was close to Snape, too,” he said, trying to mend the quarrel they’d had in the Library. Draco knew how Potter talked about his old Head of House, and he knew that he was interested in him. “I knew him well,” he explained, still holding Harry’s hand. He hoped that the Gryffindor understood his offer. Draco was willing to answer Harry’s questions if he wanted to talk about Snape. Or he could bend over the bed and let the hero fuck him, if he wanted. That night he was at Harry Potter’s mercy, and Draco gazed at him with all his will and want.

Harry shivered under the intense stare, fearing he would burn up in those passionate eyes. When had he thought that silver was cold?

Harry knew what he wanted that night. He knew what he wanted of Malfoy: everything. Harry pulled his hand and led him to his bed. He took the bottle, too, and sat beside Malfoy.

“It must have been horrible for you, last year. Everybody has their own story and the thing they suffered more than the rest, but nobody considers what it must have been like for Snape. Or for you,” he added looking into Draco’s eyes. He took a sip of Firewhisky, letting another kind of fire burn his insides.

Draco smiled at Harry’s expression and took a drink from the bottle, even though he thought it was a rude thing to do. But Harry was giving him the opportunity to speak his mind to him and he was going to take his chance. Harry was asking him what it had been like for him last year, here, sitting on his own bed. It was as if he were telling him - _I’ll be here when you finish, whatever you are going to say_.

So Draco began to tell Harry Potter everything that he’d never told anyone about that dark year at Hogwarts and at the Manor. Between sips of Firewhisky and soft caresses, Draco confessed his pain, his terror and fears for himself, for his parents and for his friends. He even feared for his classmates, the brave Gryffindors who sought the worst punishments, or the poor Hufflepuffs who got them for whatever they did.

It was then that Harry hugged him and kissed him… on his forehead. But it was not just one kiss - there were many of them, sweet little kisses to erase every one of those bad memories, and maybe Harry’s own bad memories, too.

Soon the kisses fell down on Draco’s cheeks, his lips, and the bottle was left on the bedside table because their hands wanted to be part of the action too.

Calmly, but with great anticipation, they removed their: first their shirts, later their trousers, all the while kissing with their eyes closed, fearing that the mere sight of their nude bodies would be too much for their fervour, already on the edge just from the feeling of warm skin against warm skin.

It was Harry, always bold even though he had less experience than Draco, who dared to take off the last pieces of their clothing.

Draco, who had let Harry set the pace so as not to make a false move, let Harry undress him. And now, completely exposed, they finally opened their eyes and let their eyes take in what their hands had already explored.

“Fuck,” was all Harry could say, looking down at Draco’s pale body. Then he closed his eyes again and threw his head back, trying to contain his lust.

That image was too much for Draco, who was unable to resist and climbed over Harry, settling between his legs to kiss the lovely sight that was rising proud against him, as impressive as his owner. Draco had seen other cocks, but none as magnificent, thick and turgid as Harry’s. Merlin, he was so fucked, more than he had been before, when he longed for the hero from afar. Draco had to be sure that tonight was not his last one in Potter’s bed, so he put all his entire mind into giving him the best blowjob of his life. He kissed and licked with dedication, caressing the tense thighs at each side of his head.

Harry was grabbing the sheets with both hands and Draco took them in his. Draco would definitely have finger marks on his wrists tomorrow, but he didn’t care because they’d help him remember Harry’s last deep moan, telling him that he was about to come. Draco didn’t move aside, wanting to taste Harry for the first– and hopefully not the last - time.

Despite the intensity of Harry’s climax, he recovered faster than Draco. As if ashamed of his passivity, he took Draco and threw him on his back on the bed, making Draco laugh at the sudden attack.

Harry swallowed Draco’s giggles with his own mouth, as he didn’t want his lover to lose his excitement. It had been incredible for him, and he wanted to make it incredible for Draco, too, even if it was obvious that it was his first time with a boy.

Hoping that he was not as clumsy as he felt, he dared to reward Draco the same way. So he took Draco’s cock in his hand and wrapped his mouth slowly around the hot flesh. He soon mastered the pace thanks to Draco’s moans and little cries of delight. He knew that quality was more important than quantity, so he played more with his lips and didn’t try to take Draco’s cock too deep in his throat.

Draco took more time to finish than Harry, but judging from how Draco pulled Harry’s hair and how loud he shouted his name at the end, Harry thought that he hadn’t done a bad job.

Draco’s sweet kisses reassured him much more, as did his tenderness when he curled up with Harry on the bed and covered them with the sheets.

“Do you want more Firewhisky?” Harry offered, not knowing how to act now that the lust was sated and there was just both of them: Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, nude and hugging in bed.

“And McGonagall’s gift?” Draco asked with a smile.

“I’ll buy her another,” Harry answered, taking the bottle. “Someday. I’ll have to tell her… do you mind?” he asked, a little bit nervous. He didn’t know the etiquette in these matters, but he wanted to say that for him it hadn’t been a one-night thing. “You don’t mind that someone knows?” Harry quietly asked.

“I’m not the one who has to worry about his popularity, Potter. Mine is already pretty much ruined.”

“I don’t care what people think. What matters to me is what you think,” Harry confessed, feeling more exposed now than he had when he said his password.

Draco was moved more than he’d been when he heard that _Fiendfyre_ from Harry’s lips. Draco’s kissed him for an answer, not wanting Harry to know about the lump in his throat.

“It’s late, let’s rest. Tomorrow we’ll have to wake up early. It’s Christmas,” Draco said.

Harry smiled. On his naked chest, he could feel how Draco’s breath relaxed and evened out, but he remained awake for some time, still smiling and thinking that the next day he would know at last the joy of waking up with someone in his arms, the most unexpected person, whose body fit perfectly against him.

Who knows, maybe after opening the gifts the house-elves would leave here for them, they could _celebrate_ their first Christmas together. Perhaps the first of many.

When at Harry finally fell asleep lulled by Draco’s even breaths, he was still smiling dreamily.


End file.
